Remembering Halcyon Days
by vsdefender
Summary: The three girls are split up when they head for college.


This is a Project A-ko fanfic. The characters are the creation of Yuji Moriyama and Katsuhiko Nishijima and are the property of Final-Nishijima. This fanfic is written without the consent or knowledge of either of those two gentlemen. I hope that this covers all the neccessary legal talk. I doubt that anyone would sue over this modest fanfic but who knows? In our overly litigious society anything is possible.  
  
Remembering Halcyon Days  
by vsdefender  
naughtiusmaximus@juno.com  
Three young women stood before the departure gate at Graviton International Airport.  
  
B-ko bent down to give C-ko a hug. "You're sure you didn't forget anything?" she said. Not that anything could be done about it if the short blonde had forgotten something.  
  
"Oh yeah, I'm sure," C-ko replied. "I spent all day yesterday packing so I would have every thing ready."  
  
B-ko stood up and pulled a card out of her jacket pocket. "Just in case you did forget something or if you ever need something, use this," she said and handed C-ko the card. "You can use that to call me too."  
  
C-ko relunctantly took the card. "B-ko, I don't want your money." She tried to hand the card back.  
  
B-ko waved the card off. "Really, I insist. Just keep it under a billion yen is all I ask."  
  
A-ko's eyes bulged at hearing that. "A billion yen!!" she shouted. "You can't just buy people's friendship like that, B-ko!"  
  
B-ko's eyes narrowed. "That isn't my intention, A-ko. I merely want to help C-ko out in case she should ever truly need it. Even when I try to be nice and do the right thing you always manage to assume that I have some evil motive for my actions."  
  
A-ko's face flushed. "I apologize, just a knee jerk reaction, I guess."  
  
The boarding call for their plane was called and people began pushing past the three girls.  
  
"I guess this is goodbye," B-ko said.  
  
C-ko threw her arms around B-ko for one last hug. "Bye, B-ko. Thanks for everything."  
  
"Be sure to call me when you get there and let me know you're safe," B-ko said. She looked at A-ko. "In case she forgets will you let me know?"  
  
"I'll e-mail you when we get settled down in our dorm," A-ko promised.  
  
B-ko slowly put out her hand towards A-ko. It was a bit of a surprise for both of them as they shook hands. They had found that it was possible to be civil to each other. True warmth would probably never happen.  
  
C-ko let go of B-ko and picked up her little koala bookbag. A-ko also had her bookbag that she used in highschool.  
  
As they turned to head for the plane A-ko could have sworn that B-ko looked like she might cry at any moment. Just for a moment A-ko was struck by how small and lonely B-ko looked in that huge crowd while she watched A-ko and C-ko walk out of her life.  
  
  
  
  
B-ko watched her four hirelings troop out her dorm room. "They wouldn't come around at all if I didn't pay them", she thought with disgust. As friends they made excellent mercenaries. Not like C-ko. C-ko was a true friend if a flighty one.  
  
B-ko plopped down onto her bed and stared at the ceiling thinking about her life. She had everything money could buy. She was the most gifted technologist on the planet. She was attending the prestigious Graviton Institute of Technology and would be Dr. B-ko Daitokuji someday. She was already wealthy and knew that she would take the reins of the Daitokuji Financial Group after her father retired. She should have been happy, by the standards of society she was as successful as a person could be. Then why did she feel so empty?  
  
It was a rhetorical question. She knew why. She had an uncaring father who saw her mainly as either an irritant or a source of income. Her closest friends were no more than employees. Her one true friend was attending college on the other side of the planet. She even missed A-ko somewhat. That is, she missed her fights with A-ko. Her hatred for A-ko was what had defined her for the last two years. After they had attempted to rescue C-ko from the Cygnans on the night of the wedding fiasco she hadn't been able to work up enough hate for A-ko to make all that effort worthwhile. Now with both A-ko and C-ko gone she felt at loose ends.  
  
She had tried chasing Kei for something to do but he was so obviously fixated on C-ko that she had given up in disgust. In the end she realized that a full grown man who obsessed over a girl who looked and acted like a ten year old was probably very mentally unhealthy. Not to mention yucky.  
  
B-ko looked out the window and sighed. She thought about making a trip to Metropolis University to visit C-ko. Thought about it and rejected the idea. She was too busy to leave. Hikaru Daitokuji had bribed his way into another lucrative contract with the E.D.F. and once again needed his daughter's help fulfilling his obligations. So between bailing out the Daitokuji Financial Group and her classwork she was too busy to go anywhere.  
  
B-ko closed her eyes and thought back to happier times. She let her mind wander back to when she and A-ko fought tooth and nail at Graviton High.  
  
  
  
  
A-ko threw her books across the room. "I can't take this anymore! These classes are driving me batty!"  
  
C-ko looked across the room at her best friend and sighed. A-ko had been unhappy since moving to Metropolis and C-ko thought she had a good idea as to why.   
  
A-ko crossed the room and picked up her books. "I really need a break from all this," she said.   
  
C-ko was pretty sure that it wasn't A-ko's college courses that were driving her crazy. It was the lack of an insane mecha building genius out to stomp A-ko into the ground. As C-ko had observed before, A-ko was at her happiest when she and B-ko were both doing their best to plant each other six feet deep.  
  
She had tried to cheer her up by cooking up some delicious meals using the recipes from her new Cordon Bleu cookbook. Strangely enough it didn't work. She had dragged A-ko to the movies nearly every weekend but that hadn't helped much either. Shopping at the mall hadn't helped and neither did all day visits to the amusement parks. She was fresh out of ideas on how to break her best friend's melancholy mood.  
  
As C-ko pondered how to help her best friend, A-ko tossed herself onto her bed and thought about the good old days at Graviton High.  
  
  
  
  
  
B-ko was running late for her morning class. She had been up late reworking a design for the latest surface-to-space missile system that Daitokuji Financial Group was going to manufacture for the Earth Defense Force. Colonel Yashida had not been happy with the performance of the prototype system. General Zuma had rolled over easily enough but unfortunately for the Daitokujis, Monty hadn't been running the show at the E.D.F. since the night the entire alien fleet had come knocking on Earth's door, looking for their lost princess.  
  
As she stepped out of the shower and dried off she considered what she would wear for the day. She had stopped wearing the Akagiyama 23 for the most part after A-ko had left for Metropolis. It wasn't like she really needed it that much anymore. However,she had been tinkering around with it over the last couple of weeks and hadn't really given a shakedown cruise to check out the improvements she had made to it. Today would be as good a day as any.  
  
After she was dressed she checked herself in the mirror. Even though she was in college she still favored the school type uniforms that she wore during her school days. The side benefit of the uniform is that it did a great job hiding the fact that underneath she was wearing her Akagiyama 23 powersuit.  
  
  
She was several minutes late for class when she drew near to the Applied Physics Building. Standing at the bottom of the steps was a familiar redheaded figure dressed in the blue and white sailor uniform that she wore at Graviton High.  
  
"A-ko, what are you doing here!?" B-ko asked, shocked to see her high school nemesis.  
  
"I really hope you're wearing your Akagiyama 23 for your sake, B-ko" A-ko answered, grinning.  
  
B-ko smiled as she ripped off her uniform, revealing her powersuit and launched herself at A-ko. "Prepare yourself, A-ko! It's curtains for you!"  
  
A-ko's only response was to grab B-ko and slam her into the ground when B-ko got with range. A few seconds later she was dodging several Akagiyama missiles.  
  
  
  
Watching from behind a tree C-ko had mixed feelings as she watched her two friends battle it out. For what could well be the first time in her life she actually made a sacrifice for someone else. Letting A-ko break her promise of non-violence hadn't been easy for C-ko but she realized that to be happy A-ko needed conflict in her life.  
  
It was obvious that A-ko was happy. She seemed to like dodging missiles and tossing B-ko through walls.  
  
Oddly enough, C-ko was actually somewhat happy about what was happening. As A-ko had once pointed out, C-ko was usually too busy worrying about herself to be concerned about anyone else. She was just starting an interesting and aggravating time in her life. It was a process called "growing up".  
  
  
  
The End  
  
  
  
Although this fanfic is not based on any stories by other Project A-ko fanfic writers I still wish to express appreciation for other A-ko fanfic writers. If not for them then I would have never undertaken fanfic writing. Especially the gang over at 2-E. They know who they are. 


End file.
